I pressed my forehead to hers when a soft cry left her and hushed her gently. “It’s fine. Savannah, you’re fine. I’m the reason we’re in this mess.”
Her head moved in slow shakes against mine. “I have missed you every minute of every day,” she said, voice wavering with emotion. “Please come home.”
“I’m here,” I repeated and brought her left hand up to pass my mouth across the angel wings tattooed on her wrist. “Not going anywhere.”
She pressed her fingers to my jaw to turn my head toward hers, her stare searching my face when she said, “I need you.”
Words she’d already said, but this was different. This was vulnerable and soul-bearing. This was a part of her healing that she’d been waiting for.
Brushing my lips across hers, I pushed from the bed, keeping my eyes on hers as I finished undressing. By the time I was slipping her underwear down her legs, the rise and fall of her chest was coming faster. Sharper.
And then she was bared to me and taking my damn breath away.
My world.
My wife.
I knelt on the bed, taking her in over and over again as I spread her legs. “You’re so beautiful,” I whispered.
A flush swept up her neck, a secretive smile tugging at her full lips as she reached for me to pull me higher up her body.
I let her move me a little ways before dipping down to pass my mouth across her stomach a couple times and placing a soft kiss there.
By the time I was settled between Savannah’s legs, her eyes were bright with adoration and excitement as she curled her fingers around the back of my neck and pulled me closer.
“I love you,” I murmured before pressing my mouth to hers.
The kiss slow and claiming. Soft and passionate.
A dance with her I would never get tired of.
Her breath left on a stuttered exhale when I rocked against her, slowly sliding my cock against her over and over and teasing her clit that I was aching to devour before pressing against her entrance.
“Beau, please—oh God.” Her nails scraped along my neck when I began inching in.
Taking my time and savoring the feel of her. The way she gripped me and shuddered around me. Feeling like the best damn thing every time. Shaking my goddamn soul because I hadn’t realized just how empty I’d been without her until that moment. How wrong life had been.
“Jesus Christ, Savannah,” I said, throat tight.
“I know,” she whispered, brushing her mouth across mine. “I know. I love you.”
“I’m sorry.” I leaned back enough to study her eyes, watching as they fluttered shut for a moment as she nodded. “Love you with every last breath.”
Her answering whimper when I pulled out and pushed back in filled my head and made my blood buzz. Had chills skating across my skin and had me struggling to find and keep a slow rhythm when that sound was pure sin.
When I was already getting lost in her.
Lost in this heaven I’d thought had been ripped away from me.
I made a lazy trail of kisses down her throat, stopping at the pulse-point and feeling the way her skin vibrated against my lips with each moan and inaudible plea as my thrusts gradually quickened. Hardened. Each rock of my hips just as steady and thorough when I sat back and brought one of my hands to where our bodies were joined.
A tremor moved through her when I skimmed my fingers through her slick folds, her voice breathless and pleading as she reached for me. “Beau.”
I dipped my head to press another kiss to her tattoo, never losing sight of her eyes as I brushed my fingers against her clit. Unable to draw it out and tease her. Unable to do anything but give her what she needed right then.
Watching the way her eyelids fluttered shut and her back bowed. The way her lips parted and her hands curled into fists against my bare chest before flattening.
Taking in every sound and movement and expression like it might be my last opportunity.
Savoring the way she responded to my touch, each shudder that worked through her body and the way she clenched tight around my cock when I rolled her clit between my fingers. The way her eyelids popped open and a breathless moan ripped from her as she shattered around me.
“Fucking beautiful,” I whispered as I worked her through her orgasm. Her little vibrations pushing me closer to the end when I was already there.
With one last brush against her sensitive bud, I curled back over her and wrapped one of her legs around my hip, angling deeper and deeper as my hips rocked faster. Gritting my teeth in a vain attempt to hold off for a while longer when I was buried in Savannah. When my world was righting again after all the shit we’d been through. Surrounded in sugar and caramel and everything that made up my wife.
I wrapped one of my hands in her hair and pressed my forehead to hers, gripping the comforter tightly as I raced toward the end. “I love you.”
A bright smile broke across the pleasure on her face and lit up my world. “I love you,” she breathed, the claim still teasing my lips as I bent to capture her mouth in a kiss that had me spinning.
Felt like I was drowning in her and so damn high off her kiss, I couldn’t think straight.
The room could’ve gone up in flames around us, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Nothing else mattered at that moment other than her body beneath mine and the feel of her around me. Her hands pulling me closer and the way her lips moved against mine in a familiar, intoxicating dance.
I hissed out a curse as all that pleasure tore down my spine and dropped my head to her collarbone as I found my own release inside her. My muscles going tight for long seconds before my body began trembling. From the release . . . from all the adrenaline of the night having faded away . . . from the exhaustion of these past weeks.
Pressing a kiss to the underside of her jaw, I eased out of her and then rolled to the side, bringing her with me.
There were so many things we still needed to talk about. We needed to go back over some of the dozens of things we’d already attempted to that hadn’t been resolved.
But right then, I couldn’t remember any of them.
There was only her, curling up closer to my chest as I brushed my knuckles across her flat stomach. Staring at me with heavy-lidded eyes, smiling softly, and looking so beautiful, it hurt.
We’d had thousands of moments just like that, I was sure.
But I had no doubt, I would remember that one for the rest of my life.
My stare danced around the empty bedroom as I exited the bathroom, my head slanting as I listened for any sounds.
Any cries.
But there was nothing.
Grabbing one of Beau’s shirts, I slipped it over my head and continued out into the hall since we didn’t have any guests at the time, my bare feet padding against the hardwood as I headed for the stairs. But when my gaze automatically swept the most important room in our home as I’d started passing it, I stopped.
Chest warming. Heart reaching. Soul melting into a puddle at my feet.
Because there was my big bear of a husband, cradling our nine-month-old to his bare chest as he slowly rocked back and forth in the darkened room. The soft glow from the nightlight capturing the moment perfectly.
As if he could sense me there, he turned, his dark eyes lingering on me as one of those rare smiles crossed his face. All dimples and adoration and stealing my heart as if he hadn’t done that so many years before.
“She okay?” I asked as I crept into the room.
“She’s good,” he murmured, his voice all a soft rumble. “Just lost her pacifier for a second.”
“Oh, sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Why?” Keeping one of his hands on Quinn’s back to hold her close, he reached out to me with the other, pulling me against him to search my face in the darkened room. “I had her.”
“Yeah, but I should’ve been there.” My throat felt all tight like I was going to cry, but that was ridiculous.
She’d lost her pacifier.
That’s all.
Get a grip. This is so not a big deal.
“I had her,” he repeated softly. Lifting his hand to trail his knuckles down my jaw, he followed the path with his eyes. “She’s my daughter too. You don’t always have to be the one who jumps when she cries.”
I sagged against him, gratitude pouring from me as I blinked back the threat of tears. “I know, and I know I’m being ridiculous right now,” I mumbled quickly. “Thank you for being there, and thank you for letting me take a bath. I needed that time.”
“Let you?” A rough, grating laugh built in his chest. Lifting my head to meet his eyes, he said, “Whatever you need, always.” He searched my stare for a while longer before murmuring, “Crazy girl.”
“I love you.”
“Every breath,” he vowed, the words moving through my body and doing crazy things to my heart. Brushing his thumb along my lip, he gestured behind me with a jerk of his chin. “Get in bed. I’ll be there soon.”
I twisted like I was about to go, then turned back into him. Because that demanding tone of his had always gotten to me too. Waking up my body and sending a rush of heat through me. Making me ache with anticipation. “Or you could come with me now . . .” I said, words slow and hopeful.
From the carnal look that crossed his face, he heard the implication behind the whispered words. After another lingering glance, Beau turned for Quinn’s crib and gently eased her down without waking her.
I met him at the side, sliding my hand over his and wondering if I would ever stop being blown away by the amount of love I felt for that little girl.
“Never again,” Beau whispered as he turned over his hand to grip mine. “I swear to you, I’ll never get in another fight. I’ll never throw another punch. I’ll never be arrested again.”
I looked up at him, my throat going tight all over again at the depth of his oath.
They were the same words he’d said to me the morning we’d woken up on the grounds of this house, long before we owned it, a couple days after his last arrest. The same words he’d repeated to me on our wedding night.
And he’d kept them.
He was still the same Beau I’d always known him to be. Surly and terrifying and quick to anger with everyone who wasn’t me—well, and now Quinn. But he’d found a way to keep all that darkness and rage at bay until he calmed or could channel it into something else.
Renovating our house. Exercising. Mind-blowing sex.
I preferred the last.
But I couldn’t imagine the strength it took to control what had always been so uncontrollable for him. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was to chain something so wild and fierce.
But I was thankful for it.
Thankful for how much he loved me.
“I know,” I whispered, squeezing his hand gently.
His stare shifted to me, all love and wonder before he was standing to his full height and twisting toward me. Pulling me closer as he walked me backward, out of the room, stopping to softly close the door behind us. Then he was backing me down the hall, his hands lightly moving over my body and teasing my curves before finding the hem of his shirt I was wearing.
Fingers trailing over the bare skin of my hips and butt before he bent to curl his large hands around my thighs. And then he was lifting me, my legs wrapping around his hips instinctively as he crushed his mouth to mine.
“What do you want?” he asked against the kiss.
“You.”
“Rough or easy?” he quietly demanded.
I wove my fingers through his hair, gripping gently to pull him back so I could look in his midnight eyes. “I just want you.”
His movements slowed when he approached the bed. Kneeling on it and effortlessly lowering me until I was laid out beneath him. The muscles in his body stretching and rippling with each measured movement as he dipped down to press his mouth first to my covered breasts and then my throat before meeting my lips where he whispered, “Easy then.”
My chest rose and fell roughly when he started a slow path down, lifting my shirt up as he went. His kisses hot and teasing and building me up and up and up.
Fire.
I was on fire.
Heat swirling in my belly as unwavering need for the man above me raced through my veins. And we’d barely begun. But it’d always been that way with us.
A frenzy burning hotter and higher until I was consumed in him. In us.
“Beau.” His name tumbled past my lips, all trembling need when he settled his wide shoulders between my thighs.
Hands gripping me. Mouth passing lazily across the inside of my thigh like he had all the time in the world to touch me and tease me.
As if he was enjoying the torture.
His stare lifted to meet mine, a wolfish smirk shaping his lips as if he’d heard my thoughts. And then he was leaning forward to taste me.
Slow.
Gentle.
Easy.
A whimper fell from my lips as my entire body reacted to that touch, to his tongue. To the way he flattened it against me before alternating to hard, fast flicks. Winding me up and drawing out the moment until I was begging him to give me what was just out of reach.
But every time Beau felt me get closer, he’d pull back. Slow and soften his movements. Kiss my clit tenderly as if he wasn’t driving me insane in the best possible way.
A shuddering breath fled from me when he pressed two of his fingers inside me, curling them expertly as he set his tongue on my aching bud.
My mouth opened on a silent cry as I shattered against him.
That addictive bliss surging through my body and making me feel weightless for those few seconds before I came crashing back to reality.
A reality that felt more like a dream.
“Beau,” I managed to say through my ragged breaths.
My body was trembling. Shuddering.
I gripped weakly at his hair as he continued to devour me like he couldn’t get enough.
Worshipping me with his tongue and fingers, pushing me through my orgasm until I tumbled into a second one.
Weightless.
Bliss.
And then he was moving over me and settling between my thighs as he deftly removed his athletic shorts. His long length pressing against my entrance as his mouth made a path up my neck.
“Love you,” he whispered against my skin.
“Every breath,” I vowed as he pushed inside me, slowly taking me inch by inch. A groan raking up his throat once he was fully seated.
“Fucking heaven.” His hand curled around the comforter as he eased out before pushing back in. His hips rolling faster and faster until he found a rhythm that had my breaths coming out in soft whimpers.
Had my eyelids fluttering shut as he loved me so wholly, so effortlessly.
“Open,” he softly demanded as his lips brushed across my cheek. His dark eyes all love and adoration and fire when I looked into them. “There you are.”
Twisting my fingers into his hair, I brought his mouth to mine. Kissing him until I was dizzy off his lips and tongue and the way he moved inside me.
Dizzy off Beau and everything that made up us.
Pressing up with one hand, he grabbed my leg with the other and curled it around his hip as his thrusts quickened. The muscles in his body tensing as he neared his release. As he gently claimed me. Body. Heart. Soul.
It didn’t matter how long we’d been doing this or how we came together. Rough . . . easy . . . every time stripped me bare in the purest of ways. Exposing every vulnerability and shaking me to my core. Flooding me with the breathtaking knowledge that this man was mine. That he had so clearly chosen me from that first day and continued to.
A gritted curse burst from him when he came inside me, his body tightening for long seconds before little tremors began rolling through his arms and back and transferring to me.
He slowly released my leg and lowered himself to rest just above me, our chests moving in unison with our ragge
d breaths as we watched each other in that moment we always lingered in. The fierce beat of his heart matching mine so perfectly and feeling like a comfort in its familiarity.
“You’re everything,” he murmured. Capturing my lips in a soft but brief kiss as he eased out of me and rolled us to our sides.
Warmth bloomed in my chest, a lazy smile tugging at the corner of my mouth at his words. At the tone. As if he still couldn’t believe we were finally here, after everything we’d been through.
I understood it all too well.
But we’d made it through my parents trying everything to separate us before finally giving Beau their blessing. Through their public wishes for me to be with someone else. We’d made it through cop cars and holding cells. Through the repeated, crushing loss of death and people leaving. Of the separation from Hunter and Cayson . . .
Through it all, we’d gotten our dream. The plantation house was ours—fully restored and more beautiful than I ever could’ve imagined. Blossom Bed and Breakfast had been up and running for a couple years. And we had our little girl.
Beau’s stare danced across my face as I thought, a soft smile lighting his eyes as he did.
“What?”
“I hope Quinn has your freckles.”
A shock of a laugh bubbled free. “Why?”
His answer was immediate. “I love them. Have since that first day.” When I just looked at him with amused confusion, he asked, “You don’t remember?”
“Apparently not.” But I snuggled deeper into the pillow and curled closer to him, excitement billowing as I waited to hear his side of it.
He sighed and looked toward the ceiling as he thought. “You asked if I was gonna stay away from you because of your freckles. Said you didn’t think they belonged on your face.”
Another laugh tumbled past my lips, my shoulders shaking from the force of it. “I still think that,” I admitted.
His eyes snapped to me and narrowed in a playful glare. “They’re fucking adorable.”
I lifted a hand in mock surrender.
“When I told you they weren’t gonna make me stay away from you, you said something like my anger wasn’t gonna make you stay away from me—like they were the same thing.”
Fire Page 34
